The Key to Happiness: The Time Has Come to Establish Your Own Center

People who are not connected to the center of their own life are always sending out some kind of demand toward others, you know.
They are always expecting something from others, and they never stop wanting something from them.
“Recognize me,” “Treasure me,” “Notice me,” “Love me”…

Because the very center of their heart is left wide open and empty, they keep reaching outward, farther and farther, trying to get someone to fill that hole.

“Why don’t you understand me?”
“Why won’t you turn and look at me?”
“Why won’t you listen to what I say?” they cry.

But there are hardly any people in this world who will move just the way someone wants them to, so people who are not living connected to the depths of their own life writhe in frustration right there.
After all, the other person has their own life, their own circumstances, and their own path to walk.
Everyone is living as the main character of their own life, so there are no actors anywhere who will move just as others expect.

How many people on Earth are caught up in that whirlpool of complaints and discontent, spinning around in a frenzy!
That whirlpool swirls in homes, in workplaces, and even between nations.
They seek and are betrayed, and once betrayed, they go seeking somewhere else again.
In the midst of that repetition, such people grow more and more exhausted, and lose sight even of what they truly wanted.

You used to be like that too, didn’t you?
Your heart was shaken by a single word from someone, and a single attitude from someone could leave you feeling down, or walking on air, all day long.
You always left the key to whether you could be happy in someone else’s hands.
But that was never because you were bad.
It’s just that you didn’t yet know that the answer lies within you.
Precisely because you have tasted to the full the suffering of things not going your way, you are now beginning to search for the true answer.
That in itself is proof that your life is beginning to awaken.

True peace doesn’t come from outside.
Deep within your life, a spring that never runs dry has been welling up from the very beginning.
Quietly close your eyes and turn your awareness to the depths of your chest.
There, your very own light, which no one can take away, should be glowing steadily.
That spring doesn’t well up because someone recognized you, or because you accomplished something.
You are living here as yourself.
Just for that alone, it keeps welling up without end.

When people connect with that light, they finally stop demanding things from others.
Because they realize that, even without seeking, they are already fulfilled.

And people who are fulfilled then naturally change into people who give.
Even if the other person doesn’t understand you, even if they don’t turn to look at you, the lamp in your heart won’t go out.
That’s why, instead of blaming the other person, you become able to respect their life just as it is.

When such people increase, one by one, the whirlpool of complaints and discontent calms down, and the whole Earth moves toward gentle harmony.

Now, the time has come to establish your own center.
Not by watching how others look at you, but by listening carefully to the voice of your own life, let’s walk forward one step at a time.
Because each and every one of those steps will surely change you, and the world as well.